Plus: China-linked hackers have hit Taiwan in an "unprecedented" AI attack How we picked 35 of the world's top young scientists and engineers On September 8, will reveal its 2026 list of Innovators Under 35, recognizing 35 young people from around the world who are doing groundbreaking scientific work and building clever technical fixes for sticky problems. By finding the top young innovators globally and learning what they're focused on in their work, we aim to give readers a sense of what advances to expect in the years to come. As a newsroom, we also use this exercise to help us spot rising talent and get to know some of the best early-career researchers in the fields that we cover. This year, we received 550 nominations. Find out how we whittled them down to 35 of the young innovators shaping the future of technology, and check out last year's list. How the "censorship-industrial complex" is changing the internet and US policy I first heard the term "censorship-industrial complex" on April 15, 2025.

Security researchers found that in less than 60 seconds, they could open a hatch on a plane's exterior, plug in a tiny device, and redirect the aircraft's autopilot or sabotage its flight plan. Even as the digital components of so many life-critical systems have proven susceptible to cybersabotage-- cars, medical devices, even water utilities and power grids --the computer systems of airplanes have, thankfully, remained uniquely inaccessible to hackers. But one group of academic researchers has spent years testing a different, devious approach to aviation cybersecurity. Perhaps, they suggest, a plane could be hacked the same way that spies and saboteurs have targeted other high-value, offline computers: by surreptitiously gaining physical access to one and plugging in a device designed to silently run the attackers' malicious code. Tomorrow at the Usenix Cybersecurity Conference, researchers from the University of California at San Diego and Oberlin College will present a hacking technique capable of commandeering the autopilot of a Boeing 737 to redirect its navigation or silently altering key values in the plane's takeoff and fuel calculations while spoofing the results on the pilot's screen--subtle changes the researchers say could potentially cause anything from runway overruns on takeoff to diversions to a different country's airspace to catastrophic crashes.

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I Asked AI to Write a Novel. What does this tell us about the future of writing? Like many offbeat ideas, this one originated in a bar. I was drinking with a fellow author, and we were bemoaning the future of writing in a world of artificial intelligence. We nervously pondered how much of what we writers do could be replicated now or in the near future by a chatbot. We assured ourselves that our work--researching and investigating and then composing articles and books on complicated topics, which present fresh material, compelling context, and sharp analysis in (we hope) an engaging manner--cannot be supplanted by a machine. Can AI manufacture books that are good enough that some readers will welcome them and not care that they emerged from a data center? Generative artificial intelligence has already invaded--or infected--the world of fan fiction . I have friends who have used AI with their kids to create children's books. Iranian meme-makers have deployed it to concoct slick Lego-style videos deriding Donald Trump. The issue is not the ability of a chatbot to churn out algorithmically determined masterpieces.

LemonLime cofounder Jordan Zietz hears your criticism loud and clear. That's why he got his startup's logo tattooed on his shoulder. Jordan Zietz wants to be clear: He has never, and will never, force anyone to tattoo his startup's logo on their body. The 24-year-old briefly became the internet's most hated person after LemonLime, his AI-for-small-business startup, hosted a party following Y Combinator's Startup School in late July. In a LinkedIn post, Zietz wrote that he brought an "actual tattoo artist" to the party, and "offered an instant interview to anyone who got a LemonLime tattoo."

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Say More Creator Hub Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable Selects Versus Switch Off Trending Now Safety Net In My Bag VidCon with Mashable All Series'Daily Show' celebrates 30 years with a compilation of old audition tapes Is that you, John Oliver? Sam Haysom is the General Assignment Editor, UK, for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time. 'Daily Show' roasts Trump talking about how big his new memorial pool will be In the clip above we see everyone from Jordan Klepper and Josh Johnson to Jessica Williams and John Oliver, typically accompanied by Jon Stewart attempting to hold back laughter. There are many, many highlights, but Ed Helms' ice-cold delivery near the end is one to stick around for.

AI was supposed to massively displace workers across across industries. Economist say it's having a very different effect. AI was supposed to massively displace workers across across industries. Economist say it's having a very different effect. AI was supposed to destroy jobs.

FEMA's'Shadow Administrator' Was Paid by a DOGE Member's Startup for Months Details from recent court filings show that DOGE's influence within government--and potential conflicts of interest--extend further than previously known. An outside contractor once described as the "shadow administrator" of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was actually working, for at least part of her time in government, for a company owned by a member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, according to recent court filings. The filings show that from fall 2025 to spring of this year, Kara Voorhies, a special government employee and contractor whose work at FEMA has drawn scrutiny from Congress as well as the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, was subcontracted by a company owned by Kyle Schutt, a DOGE operative whose own company was contracting with DHS. The documents were filed in a lawsuit contesting President Donald Trump's vast cuts to the federal workforce. Previous filings have indicated that for several months, authority over some of the spending operations of FEMA, a constituent agency of DHS, was seemingly illegally influenced by Voorhies.

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Don't Freak Out Privacy Please Social Good Series 2021 Total Solar Eclipse 2024 Bad Connections Worth It Best of 2023 Space Rocks Sex in Space Carry On Mashable Social Good Presents: Back to School Tales of the Early Internet All Series Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds . Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for in Norfolk, Virginia, and in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series.